LEADING RIVER CLEANUP TRIPS

WHY?

Why do we cleanup rivers and streams? Many of us do it because they need help and too few people are willing to do this dirty job. It is very satisfying to know that you have helped make this world a better place to live. Some of us believe that having had the pleasure of hiking a trail or paddling a stream, we owe that trail or stream -- our environment -- for giving us that pleasure. We are paying off that debt. Some call this river stewardship -- taking care of the environment that we enjoy.

Leading river cleanup trips can be a very rewarding and satisfying job, but it can also be a very tough, demanding and frustrating job. As an example, several years ago a Boy Scout, whom we knew, was working on his Eagle Badge and saw an opportunity to cleanup a section of a river that flowed near his hometown. Someone pointed out to him that if he did this, he would be trespassing on property adjacent to the river and he needed permission of the property owners. He proceeded to survey the property owners to get their permission for the cleanup. Instead, he received a storm of protest. The property owners reasoned that by giving permission for a bunch of people to cleanup on their property, they would be open to damage suits if, in the process, one of these persons was injured. This cleanup was canceled before it got started.

To help avoid this kind of trouble, many river cleanup trips can be done as a component of a larger, umbrella program. The State of New Jersey, through its Green Acres Program, has a Clean Communities Program and other states probably have similar programs. The National Park Service has a Rivers and Trails Program that supports river cleanups. If the river runs through a state park, forest, wildlife refuge or other facility, these facilities may have a support program and will help. A nation-wide group of paddling organizations has been conducting a National River Cleanup Week for several years, and they provide a lot of support. This event has been going on since 1991. It is multi-organization effort led by America Outdoors, PO Box 10847, Knoxville, TN 37939, (423) 558-3595 or e-mail: amoutdoors(AT)aol(DOT)com and they have a website: www.americaoutdoors.org. It's a good idea to get connected with these kinds of programs because of the tactical and political support they provide.

WHAT'S DIFFERENT ABOUT CLEANUP TRIPS?

Leading a river cleanup trip shares all of the same responsibilities as leading a regular canoe and kayak trip -- and carries the additional responsibilities of:

1. Increased need for detailed planning
   
2. Usually requires the leader to make multiple contacts and negotiate with:
   
   • State, County and/or Local Government(S)
     
   • Local businesses
     
   • Property owners
     
3. Recruiting a cleaning crew
   
4. Supervising the crew doing work that may be dangerous and unfamiliar
   

There is so much added responsibility for a cleanup trip that if it's an overnight trip with food and camping responsibility, you are strongly urged to have co-leaders -- one responsible for the camping and food -- the other responsible for the cleanup planning and running.

SELECT THE RIVER TO CLEANUP

You must know the group of people from whom you are going to be drawing your cleanup crew. If your group's primary interest is paddling whitewater, and you select a flatwater river to clean, you will have a very hard time recruiting participants. If your group is flatwater paddlers, they won't have the skills and interest necessary to clean a whitewater river. A river popular with your paddlers, and clearly in need of cleaning, will be the easiest for which to recruit. If you decide to cleanup a river that is infrequently paddled by your group, recognize that you may have to make special efforts to recruit volunteers.

Rivers less than Class II can be cleaned most easily by tandem teams of open canoes. Because the maneuvers required are relatively simple, heavily loaded boats are not a severe problem. When the river is Class II or greater, it becomes less practical to cleanup with open canoes. Here heavily loaded canoes make maneuvering difficult and a simple dump becomes a dangerous swim accompanied by tangled trash. Rivers greater than Class II should be cleaned by paddlers in essentially unloaded boats. This requires either very frequent drop-off spots, or rafts acting as garbage scows. The most difficult whitewater rivers can be cleaned by teams of highly skilled closed boaters, capable of getting to almost anywhere in the river, with the support of several rafts carrying equipment (e.g., winch, chain saw) and the collected trash. In general, this means that cleaning rivers greater than Class II usually requires the support (or hiring) of a commercial raft outfitter.

Do not try to clean up a river that your group does not have the skills and resources for.

MAKE LOCAL CONTACTS

Before you decide on a river to cleanup, it's a good idea to contact the local communities along the candidate rivers. The attitude of these riverbank communities is a major factor in everything about a cleanup trip. If the communities aren't willing to assist, you may want to look for another river with communities that will welcome you and appreciate the effort. Join with these communities, and your job will be much easier.

Frequently, the river will flow through several different local communities and it will be necessary to contact each one where you would cleanup. When the river is the boundary between two governing bodies, the communities on both banks should be contacted.

The local community environmental awareness person(s) can tell you about their community. Each hamlet and town is different. Usually the town clerk (phone number can be found in a phone book) can direct you to the proper person. This person will know what resources are available in their community, what has been done in the past, what specific things need to be done. They will also know what their community may be planning and can help your planning.

TRASH DISPOSAL

The main reason for these contacts is to determine how to dispose of the trash. Ideally you want to be able to place unsorted recyclables, trash, tires, white goods and debris at selected places on the riverbank, to be picked up by truck and disposed of properly. Often the trash in the river is partially due to local or not-so-local rules about disposal of trash. For example: if one community charges $5/tire to dispose of tires, truckloads of tires may appear in the river that you want to clean. The riverside community is now responsible for disposal of the tires. One community may have the resources to properly dispose of the trash you pick up; others may not be able to assist.

It is possible to run a cleanup without the support of the local community, but it is more difficult and may require the hiring of a hauling service/garbage collection company, or finding one that will donate its trucks and drivers.

TRASH DROP-OFFS

You will need to arrange for trash drop-off spots that are accessible from the river and from a road for pickup by truck. Good spots are riverside businesses that depend on the river in some way for their business. Restaurants with riverside patios, fishing shops, canoe liveries, marinas or boat shops are all good prospects for drop-off spots. Property owners, who evidence a respect for the river by keeping their riverside area neat and tidy, are also good prospects. State, county or local facilities (e.g. fish hatcheries, parks, fair grounds, etc.) along the river are excellent candidates. Of course, there are the usual bridge access areas.

TRASH

When you do clean a river, these are some of items that you should expect to find:

TIRES, cans, bottles, auto parts, pipe, barbed wire, wheels, furniture, appliances, cable reels, construction debris, water hose, fence posts, Styrofoam containers, broken glass, carpet, containers of oil, paint cans, toilets, plastic film, milk boxes, motors, water heaters, unknown substances, bicycles, TV antennas, 55 gal. drums, TV sets, clothing, used condoms, hypodermic needles, dead animals & parts, kitchen sinks AND MORE TIRES.

You have to be able to handle all of this and more! Each boat should have heavy duty plastic bags and a separate container for broken glass, which will shred a plastic bag. If you MUST sort recyclables, it is best to do it as they are collected. Each boat should have a bag for each category.

RECRUITING YOUR CREW

Having selected your river, you can write your description of the trip and put it in the schedule. If you have selected a river popular with your group, that may be all that you need to do. However, all to often that is not the case, and you will need to encourage folks to join your cleanup. You can and should advertise your trip and its importance in the Club's Newsletter, call and personally invite people to join you, and you can write personal notes. Postcards with a personal note, sent to a wide assortment of potential crew members, have proven to be a very successful recruiting tool. Here's a sample:

You may want to add a line to the note that says, "The community of Whatever is having its annual Clean-Up-Day that weekend and is looking forward to working with the AMC." (i.e., if you don't show up it will embarrass the AMC -- guilt trip.)

SAFETY

Make certain that everyone on your crew understands that river cleaning is a wet, dirty and dangerous job. Everyone should be prepared to wade and to get muddy. Suggest that everyone wear GLOVES, and WARN everyone of the hazards and to BE CAREFUL. You should expect accidents, and every work group MUST have a FIRST AID KIT along.

RIVER CLEANUP TIPS

The organizers of the National River Cleanup Week offer paddling groups many good suggestions for cleanup trip leaders. (Like; how to get started, finding volunteers, publicity, reporting and follow up.) They provide you with garbage bags, publicity materials, and ask that you report your trip, and give awards and recognition.

These are some additional practical tips that might help you when you run your own cleanup trip.

1. Try to plan your river cleanup trip for a time when the water level is at or near the minimum paddling level. You will see more stuff at low water, and you are going to be moving slowly anyway.
   
2. To get a good idea of what to expect, SCOUT the river in advance, specifically looking for trash. When we paddle for pleasure, we do not want to see this junk and may significantly underestimate the amount. Scout for possible trash dropoff spots.
   
3. Estimate that your group will be able to cleanup no more than 1/4 mile per paddlerday. (e.g. 10 people on a 2day weekend can cleanup about 4 river miles.) Energetic individuals can do more, but this will allow for some less enthusiastic workers and will give you a realistic basis for estimating either how much you can clean or how many people you need to clean a section, without overworking folks.
   
4. Plan your cleanup groups for a minimum group size of EIGHT people. This gives you enough hands for safety and to handle most any item you may want to remove. Four tandem canoes may be heavily loaded after two miles of cleaning a trashy river. Plot out trash dropoff spots, and increase group size if dropoff spots are not frequent enough.
   
5. Encourage people to paddle tandem in multipurpose open canoes. The boats hold more, can stand the abuse better, and a team can do many things that single paddlers may find difficult.
   
6. If possible, remove any air bag flotation in the boats. They are VERY subject to damage.
   
7. Clean the river bank to the top of the normal banks, don't try to clean peoples' back yards for them. Use judgement when something is too big, too heavy, or just too much to handle. Cars, sofas, refrigerators, truck tires and long standing river/roadside dumps, are examples of gross things which paddlers may have to bypass unless you have made special arrangements.
   
8. Bring along tools. The following tools are very useful for river cleaning.

   EACH BOAT: 3-5 tine cultivators    river knives throw ropes

   EACH GROUP: brush loppers wood saw pick

   shovel winch hack saw

9. Talk to any people you meet along the river during the trip, fisherpersons, property owners, picnickers, paddlers, etc. Tell them who you are, what you are doing and why, and ask them for their support and help. If appropriate, give them a reminder of you, a garbage bag, a leaflet, a button or a Club membership application.

River Cleaning Is a Wet, Dirty and Dangerous Job -- but Someone's Got to Do It.

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Review our Cleanup Trip Reports from the past few years.

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Last updated: 1:15 PM 24 Feb 1999